


The Red Knight

by PinjaVy



Category: RWBY
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angsty?, Character Death, F/F, Friendship, Whiterose, Whiterose week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24764107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinjaVy/pseuds/PinjaVy
Summary: Weiss was determined to go to Beacon Academy, and strikes up a deal with her father to do so. All she had to do was kill the Red Knight. Easy.Now if there only wasn't a strange red dolt that kept getting in her way. Did she really just say no to Weiss Schnee?!
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 7
Kudos: 62





	The Red Knight

**Author's Note:**

> My submission for WhiteRose week! I'm not usually a writer, but this was fun for me to do. There's a bit of a different timeline in this universe than in the shows, and I took some liberty to play with some characters that aren't all that fleshed out in the show too. I hope it's not too confusing! But anyways, enough out of me. Enjoy!
> 
> Prompt: Princess and her Knight

“Weiss,” Jacques sighed as his interlaced his fingers together on the table. “You are going to Atlas.”

“No.” Weiss answered simply, her arms crossed in rebellion. “I refuse, father.” Her tone held a firm finality to it, one that only a Schnee could accomplish. Jacques looked at his child with disdain as his own stubbornness mirrored onto his child. He glanced at the clock to the side and realized that it was time for him to attend a meeting. He was about to be late, but the child had no intent on leaving, let alone caving in to his demands. 

He sighed again. 

Then, an idea popped in his head. 

“If you can finish my assignment to you, then I shall allow you to go to that Beacon Academy.” It was an impossible task. He doubted the child could even come close to finishing it. 

A twinkle of victory naively shone in Weiss’s eyes, “What is it?” 

“You need to kill the Red Knight.” 

~~~

The young Schnee walked up the marble steps towards a desolate castle. It was in the same aesthetic as most of the other Schnee buildings - large, elegant, and terribly bare. It was familiar. What Weiss did not expect was the oversize doors of castle to swing wide open as she approached. “Hello!!!” A young girl screeched happily. The girl stood at the doorway, her silver eyes wide and excited as they swept up and down to take in the new visitor. “Are you here to train? I heard you were coming!” 

Paused in place, Weiss blinked in confusion - was she in the wrong building? She was confident that she followed Klein’s directions precisely, and Schnee’s never made mistakes. But she was not told that there would be another... child where she was going - the girl appeared to be around the age as her little brother! “Who are you?” She inquired flatly. The girl was not wearing any sort of traditional Schnee white outfit that Weiss was familiar with. Instead, the peculiar girl wore some sort of black and red garb that made her distinctively stand out from the pristine white building around her. Perhaps she was an intruder? Should she go back to alert the authorities? 

“I’m Ruby! Come on in, so we can start!.” Before Weiss could process the events unfolding in front of her, Ruby disappeared into the building in a flash An employee? A huntress? Weiss was unable to tell, but she sensed no ill will or malice from the shorter girl; perhaps security wasn’t necessary quite yet. “Hurry up!” The girl called loudly from inside. 

With a set frown on her face, Weiss stepped into the castle. Her heels clicked on the marble floor; the sound reverberated back to her. The main portion of the building was barren, with only a large window in the back to allow light in that illuminated the Schnee emblems decorating the church-like walls tactfully. There were two large corridors on either side of room that lead into unknown darkness. To Weiss, it looked more like a theatrical arena. “Welcome to your training room!” Ruby called loudly as she threw her arms up to introduce the building. She giggled as she heard her voice bounced all around her. Ruby then pointed to the long dark hallways. “That’s where your opponents will come out, and I will be leading them to you. Have any questions?” 

Was she a guide then? That would be useful. “Where’s the Red Knight?” 

Ruby paused for a moment, but smiled as if she was use to the Schnee’s direct manner. “Not yet, Weiss! You have to beat all the mini bosses before you can beat the final boss!” Weiss frowned at the mention of her first name as the red girl hopped over to one of corridors. 

“This isn’t a game!” Weiss argued. This was a matter of freedom or captivity and she did not appreciate the strange girl that acted otherwise. 

Ruby just giggled in response. “I know!” Then she once again disappeared, this time down the long corridor to the left. Weiss was tempted to follow, but decided to wait for the girl instead. After a while, Weiss began to become rather impatient. She took one step forward, but then froze as she heard a low growl from within the darkness. 

Weiss’s hand immediately flew towards her weapon and she drew it out in front of her, ready to fight like a fencer ready to duel. A large white wolf-like Grimm stepped out from the shadows, the icy blue eyes glared at her as it stalk forward towards its prey. At first, her heart skipped a beat as she felt the feeling of dread and panic weigh heavy on her chest. Weiss then took a deep breath and forced herself to step back and analyze. She had been through training like this before with Winter; she should be able do this! 

From behind the beowolf, two more stepped out. Their growl harmonizing with the first one in an eerie tone. Weiss faltered for a moment, 3 vs 1? No. She was a Schnee. She was capable. This should be a piece of cake. She steeled her nerves and thrust her weapon forward, finding comfort in the small clicks it made. 

Then the battle began. 

The first beowolf jumped at her, and she took care of it easily with one thrust upwards as its body came down on her. She could smell the foul Grimm as its ashes fell around her. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she heard the thick thuds of the second beowolf’s paws approaching. Instinctively, she made another hop back before it could slice her open. With a flick of her hand, she heard a familiar ring in her head as she created a glyph behind her. Using it at a platform, she jumped over the beowolf, killing it effectively in 3 jabs. 

The ice princess quickly turned back around and managed to duck at the last moment as she heard the snapping of the white wolf’s jaw close around the air above her. However, Weiss made a slight miscalculation; her dodge was not flawless as her foot landed in just the wrong way. She cried out slightly in surprise, then made sure she put quite a bit of distance between herself and the growling creature. 

Weiss did not have time to wonder if she hurt her ankle as the wolf came bounding towards her. She made two clicks onto her weapon, towards what she knew to be the red dust, and quickly threw out a slice of fire towards the wolf. 

It instantly disintegrated. 

“Yay!!!” Weiss immediately turned around once more, her hands tensed and tight around the grip of her rapier as she held the tip of it towards the red girl’s neck. “Oh!” Ruby laughed nervously, pushing the weapon off to the side. “Sorry, did I scare you?” 

Weiss lowered her weapon and sighed in irritation. Why did the smaller girl have to be so loud all the time? “It’s fine. I passed the test, didn’t I?” 

“Mmmm. Did you?” The silver eyed girl simply smiled and tilted her head in question. Weiss was growing increasingly vexed with her. 

“They’re dead, are they not?” Weiss gritted out of her teeth. 

“I suppose they are!” Ruby just laughed and clapped. “But...” She paused and looked behind Weiss, as if to make sure that the creatures were indeed dead. “You didn’t pass.” 

“Wha-”

“Come back tomorrow! Ciao!” Once again, before Weiss could voice her opinion, Ruby disappeared. However, this time, she somehow managed to take Weiss with her. The Schnee heiress then found herself in front of the Schee training grounds entrance, with the door shut firmly in her face. How dare-

“RUBY!” Weiss yelled, her hands slammed down at the door. “Open this door!” Despite her efforts, Weiss was met with absolute silence. After some time, with her hand pounding with pain and her head pounding in anger, she finally stopped. She turned on her heels, and quickly left the facility in a raging fury. 

~~~ 

Filled with determination, Weiss kept going back to the training facility every day for the following week. Each time, Weiss defeated more and more foul creatures, faster and more efficiently than the time before. However, Ruby always just smiled and forced Weiss out, ignoring any cries to fight the Red Knight. 

It was an understatement to say that the Schnee heiress was mad. Livid. Outraged. 

“What is WRONG with her?!” She cried as she threw Myrtenaster on bed for the nth time that hour. “I have done every single thing she asked me too. Who is she anyways? Who does she think she is?!” Weiss growled as she paced back and forth in her room. The challenges forced upon her by the strange girl was getting her no where. Not to mention, they were beneath her - she knew she could prove her strength, if she was only given the chance. 

A sudden knock on the door made Weiss glare at the door as she screamed, “What?!” 

“Weiss? It’s me, Winter.” A stern voice called on the other side, Weiss’s eyes immediately widened as she felt her embarrassment crawl up her face due to her outburst. 

“I-I’m sorry, Winter! Come on in!” Weiss immediately straightened up, patting down her skirt.

Winter opened the door slowly, her cool eyes surveying the room before they settled on the younger Schnee in front of her. Weiss squirmed slightly under the judging eyes, but smiled as Winter began to talk, “You have been absent to dinner. Would you like to tell me why?” 

“There’s just a lot going on, Winter!” The younger girl immediately whined, “I have been trying to complete father’s order to defeat the Red Knight, so that I can go to Beacon, but there’s this... this... girl! And she keeps stopping me, and frankly, I’m getting rather fed up with-” 

“Weiss!” Winter intervened before Weiss could go on complaining up a storm. “I asked for an explanation, not a novel. Start again - Father wanted you to do what now?” 

“He told me to go to the Schnee training facility and defeat the Red Knight. However, Ruby, a girl there, keeps... testing me. But she hasn’t told me anything about any sort of knights.” The younger princess looked up at her older sister, as if pleading for advice. 

Winter frowned and simply looked away. She turned around, not wanting her sister to see the disgrace that Winter felt on her own face. “It’s a difficult challenge... Father... probably does not believe that you could possibly defeat it. It’s impossible.” 

“What?!” 

“He gave me the same challenge years ago.” Winter’s voice was quiet and Weiss found it strange that she heard such defeat come from her older sister. This confused Weiss even further. 

“Winter, please, what does that mean? What do you mean impossible?” 

At first, Winter did not reply, but Weiss stepped forward to try to demand more information. “I did not pass,” Winter finally resigned. 

Weiss’s mood deflated even further than it already had. A challenge that her amazingly talented older sister could not even do? How was Weiss suppose to expect herself to do it then?

“I’m sorry, Weiss.” Winter sighed and stepped out of the room, disengaging the conversation from any further inquiries. “Come and eat dinner. You’ve already missed it 3 other times this week.” 

Weiss felt sick to her stomach, but she followed her solemn sister out anyways. 

~~~ 

“What’s wrong, Weiss?” Ruby tilted her head, watching the ice princess walk up the stairs. Weiss glared at her in response, refusing to say a word. Her mind was swarming with thoughts of failure and of Winter. Was she never going to be able to be free of her father? Was she never going to be able to go to Vale, and just... view the world? Was she destined to be trapped forever? 

Weiss’s mood darken even further as her mind spiraled out of control. Ruby closed the door behind them, but her attention remained solely on the upset girl in front of her. Even without words, Ruby was able to sense waves of anger rolling off of her, but she did not know how to console the ice princess. “Weiss! Weiss!!!” Ruby called, tapping Weiss on the shoulder. “Hello, Weiss!!!” 

“Leave me alone!” Weiss yelled. “It is YOUR fault I’m in this mess, you dolt! I ask you to bring out one enemy, and one enemy only, and you still can’t even manage to do that! Who exactly are you, and what are you even doing here?!” 

Ruby blinked, not expecting Weiss to blow up on her at all. She knew Weiss had a bit of a temper, but this is the most she ever said to Ruby the entire week. “I already told you I can’t do that! I have to keep giving you Grimm to kill until I think you’re rea-”

“Then fight with me!” 

Another surprise from Weiss - another pause from Ruby. “What?” 

“Fight. With. Me.” Weiss repeated again slowly. “If you think I’m just oh-so-uncapable for this, then fight with me. I’ll show you how much better I am than you are, then you’ll have no choice.” 

“How do you even know you’re better?!” 

“Because you are a child.” Ruby felt a vein of annoyance and frowned. 

“I am NOT a child. You don’t even know me! How could you assume you’re better than me?!” 

“I just am.” Weiss simply responded, crossed her arms and turned around. It was Ruby’s turn to glare at the taller girl. She then quickly disappeared down the corridors without another word. At first, Weiss did not realize Ruby left, so she glanced back behind her to see why the other girl was so quiet. “Ruby?” 

Suddenly, Weiss felt the air grew cold and still. Her heart began to pound in her chest as her body got ready for the fight at hand. She could hear the low growls coming from both corridors, but this time it sounded as if there were several more Beowolves... And another different snarl, indicating another type of creature was mixed in the mix. Ruby had always only ever brought out four Beowolves at a time. Never more. But by Weiss’s ears, she could only guess there were at least ten. 

What the hell was Ruby thinking? 

Weiss jumped quickly onto the window sill when the Beowolves suddenly pounced at her from all around. Her eyes grew large as she saw their beady red eyes all stared up at her, blood thirst dripped off their every pore. To make matters worst, she saw a Sabyr stalking back and forth behind the crowd, as it tried to figure out the best jump to get to her. “RUBY.” Weiss screamed. 

“What!” Ruby appeared right behind Weiss, red rose petals drifting onto the ground that instantly trampled underneath the claws paws of the vile creatures below. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid? I thought you wanted more of a challenge!” 

Despite Weiss’s desire to scream at the child for her petty idiocy, she bit back her tongue. Technically, this was what she asked for. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She stood up straighter, held her head up high, pushed her shoulder back, and took a step forward. It shouldn’t matter how many enemies she was up again, she was Weiss Schnee; she was capable of anything. 

Weiss kept her clutch on her rapier firm as she heard the barrels click into place. She pulled her hand back and watched the Grimm below her snarl and growl. She made quick mental calculations and honed in on one lone wolf in particular. She would go after that one first. 

Three... Two... One.

The ice princess flew forward with the help of a glyph at her feet, she yelled out as she got ready to give several thrusts into her target. But before she could even begin her series of attacks, a red figure flew in front of her, killing the Grimm with one heavy slice from a rather over-sized scythe. Weiss screamed in surprise as she tried to redirect her attack, so she wouldn’t suddenly pierce through the small girl in front of her. “RUBY.” Weiss was getting sick of hearing her own voice echo Ruby’s name. “Watch where you’re going!” 

“You said you wanted me to fight too!” Ruby countered, unsure how to please the impossible girl. 

“I said WITH me, you pea-brain! You attacked out of turn, I could have hurt you!” Weiss started to feel her brain cells slowly dissipating the longer she tried to reason with Ruby. 

Ruby did not have time to answer, as she had to dodge a jump attack from the Sabyr after her blood. She was getting fed up with the newest Schnee challenger. All she did was yell and yell. When was the yelling ever going to stop? 

Weiss gritted her teeth and just hopped onto the other side of the room. 

The two managed to avoid each other for quite some time while fighting. Sweat dripped off their face and Weiss soon felt her arms grew tired and heavy, especially after she found that some of the Beowolves simply reformed after she annihilated it. However, she fell into a sort of lull, allowing instincts to control her actions. A crucial mistake she would soon learn to realize. 

The Sabyr quickly lost interest in Ruby, who was simply keeping it distracted with intentions of letting Weiss kill the harder creature after the smaller wolves. Ruby’s eyes left the stalking Sabyr for a split second as she took care of three Beowolves that surrounded her; that’s when the large cat-like creature snuck over to Weiss. It then sprung itself towards Weiss, who did not manage to dodge in time. One of its giant clawed paws slashed and caught Weiss’s shoulder, knocking the Myrtenaster out of her hand and making her fall on her back. A cry of pain escaped from her lips. 

Her shoulder was throbbing horribly, but Weiss threw her hand up in front of her as a Beowolf climbed on top of her with attempts to bite her face. The creature gnarled and growled, vile drool dripped onto Weiss’s white dress and pale skin. She tried hard not to breath in the smell of rot wafting from the creature’s mouth. 

Weiss tried not to panic as she saw herself surrounded by more Beowolves, but she couldn’t help herself. She hesitated, her mind wheeling with ways to escape from the predicament she found herself in. Finally, she cried out, “Ruby!” Weiss hated that she had to resort to such tactic, but she found no other choice. 

Ruby did not delay. Instantly, all the Grimm was gone in a flash as swung her large scythe all around her. She dropped to her knees, examining Weiss from head to toe. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?! I should have been watching better!” 

Weiss felt both annoyed and grateful at the same time. She sat up, waving Ruby away. “I’m fine, thank you.” She clipped, irritated with herself that she was not able to prove herself to Ruby despite her earlier taunts. She fully expected the girl to proceed to kick her out of the facility, as per usual. 

But the red girl did no such thing. Ruby just sighed in relief when she realized Weiss was not hurt at the slightest. “You did well...!” She tentatively said, hoping to get back onto Weiss’s good graces. The Schnee simply raised an eyebrow and looked at Ruby who hopped back onto her feet. 

“Well?” 

“I mean, yeah, you held yourself up for a long while! But you stopped adapting at some point, because you were learning the Beowolves moves. Don’t ever let your guard down! You never know when another creature will come in like hi-yah! Like the sabyr did!” Ruby explained, her hands also actively describing the situation, as if she was acting out puppets. “Always expect the unexpected.” Ruby then grinned at Weiss, her smile warm, soft, and inviting - a smile Weiss found unfamiliar. 

“You were... paying attention?” Weiss was surprised. She had figured Ruby was too busy fighting to even look her way, let alone try to give her advice. 

“Of course!” Ruby exclaimed, “I always watch you!” 

Unuse to the friendly attention, Weiss felt her face heat up. She cleared her throat and stood up, trying to cover what she assumed was a blush on her face. It was simply a passing remark, she tried to tell herself, there was no need to heed too much attention to it. “You did well on your own as well, Ruby... I am...” Weiss tried to find the words she was trying to convey, “Sorry for assuming you were a bad fighter. Thank you for helping me.” 

Ruby grinned from ear to ear. “You’re wel-”

“That doesn’t make you any less of a dolt.”

“Hey!!!” Ruby laughed despite her outcry. 

Weiss allow herself to smile, just a little. Maybe the small red girl wasn’t so bad after all. 

~~~ 

Another week passed. Weiss had forgotten her fears of failing, and at some point had even appeared to have forgotten the reason she started seeing Ruby in the first place. Instead, she found herself looking forward to her training session with the hyperactive, childish dolt. Begrudgingly, Weiss admitted that Ruby was indeed a strong fighter. She suspected that Ruby was also a seasoned huntress, despite her child-like appearances, as she often pointed out tips and critique to Weiss’s fighting. It reminded Weiss of when Winter would train her, before Winter became too busy with the military. But with Ruby, it was simply... more fun. Ruby was definitely not as strict as Winter, and her warm silver eyes were filled with joy and excitement, not the cold detached, judging look Weiss was use to seeing in her own family members eyes. Weiss found herself enjoying every session. 

Weiss also quickly learned how eccentric Ruby was when they fought together. Ruby would ask her all sort of questions about her rapier and her glyphs. First, Weiss was barraged with questions about her rapier - how did it work? What if she ran out of dust? Then, after figuring out how Weiss could use her glyphs, Ruby pushed Weiss to her limits. Constantly asking Weiss to “do this” or “now see if you can launch ME from the glyphs.” Those were exhausting experiments, and Weiss found her aura depleted rather quickly, but found them interesting nevertheless. In turn, Weiss herself learned a lot more about her glyphs than ever before. 

However, reality hit Weiss hard when she saw the date on the calendar. The day to turn in applications into Beacon was nearing, and she still did not have her father’s permission to go. She needed to finish the challenge assigned to her, and she needed to finish it fast. 

“Weiss!!!” Ruby flung the door open as soon as Weiss stepped up the first step. “Are you ready for another day of battle?” She hopped up and down excitedly, her scythe in her hands; she was prepared for another day filled with action. She had spent the morning setting up new challenges for the Schnee princess and was excited to see what new things they could learn and practice. She had stayed up all night thinking about the different colors of Weiss’s glyphs and what they could possibly relate to-

Weiss rolled her eyes as the girl, but found it strangely enduring. She did not give into Ruby’s whims however, at least not that day. Instead, she shook her head. “I wanted to ask you about something.” 

“What about?” Ruby stopped vibrating in place and looked at Weiss curiously. 

“Ruby...” Weiss sighed, “I’ve grown a lot with what you’ve taught me over the past week. But I’m here to fight the Red Knight, remember? I  _ need  _ to fight him.” Weiss emphasized the word need, trying her best at convincing. She knew Ruby understood the situation, as she had explained it before just a few days prior. But Ruby just faltered at the thought and quickly shook her head. 

“No. Not yet!” The brunette quickly tried to redeem herself, not enjoying the frown and displeased expression that crossed Weiss’s face. “I-I’m sorry, really. I just can’t.” 

“What do you mean, ‘ _can’t_ ’, Ruby?! I know you’re in charge of choosing who I battle. You won’t even let me go down the hallways and see the Grimm myself! Wherever the Red Knight is hiding, just bring him to me! You know full well I can handle myself now.” 

“I just can’t, okay?!” Ruby screamed. She quickly regretted her outburst and bit her lip, her hands clutched tightly onto her Crescent Rose as she avoided Weiss’s storming blue eyes. “You just can’t understand, Weiss. I-”

“Tell me, Ruby. Tell me what I can’t understand.” Weiss’s words bit at Ruby coldly, causing Ruby to wince. But what truly made a chill run down Ruby’s back was a large wail and the sound of something heavy rushing at them quickly. Ruby tackled Weiss to the ground, forcing them both to get out of the way of a large boar-like Grimm as it barreled its way out of the training facility. 

Ruby felt a sense of panic as she watched the pig roll down the stairs and away from the facility. “Ruby, what the heck? How did it get out?” 

“I forgot - I-I think I messed up! I didn’t think we would stand out here this long. I-I must have forogtten to lock it, or something.” 

“Forget it, Ruby! We have to go after it!” Weiss pushed Ruby off on top of her and she stood up. “It’s heading towards my house!” She reached down to help Ruby up, but Ruby remained frozen in her spot, staring at the stairs where the she last saw the boar. “Ruby? Ruby! Snap out of it!!!” 

Ruby shook her head and quickly stood up. Weiss spent no time as she went down the stairs, but looked back as she didn’t hear footsteps. “Ruby!!! HURRY UP.” Once again, a look of fear and terror seemed to have been frozen on Ruby’s face. Ruby tried to take a step forward, but then quickly took her foot back, as if afraid of some invisible force. 

“I can’t leave...” Ruby mournfully mummbled, “I can’t.” 

“I’m going, with or without you, Ruby!” Weiss then turned on her heel and left once more, no longer looking back to see if the red girl would follow behind her. 

Ruby stood there motionlessly. 

~~~

Weiss did not have Ruby’s speed, and therefore took a bit of time to chase down the rolling boar Grimm. When she did manage to find it again, she noticed it barreling straight towards the Schnee court yard. Dread filled her chest, Whitley was often reading up on business practices in the court yard around this time, and the boy avoided any sort of self-defense lessons as if it was the plague. He would not be able to defend himself. 

She knew that she would never be able to catch up to the Grimm until it tired itself out. However, her sessions with Ruby also taught her that she can freeze the boars in mid-track, albeit tricky to aim for a fast moving object. Weiss had no other choice on the matter though, unless she wanted to end up with a squished younger brother. Weiss ran up a hill to get onto higher ground; she planted her heels, turned her rapier’s barrel towards the blue dust, and quickly shot out bright blue projectiles towards the Grimm. 

Weiss missed all of her shots. 

She cursed loudly and quickly made her way closer to the court yard. There, she could see Whitley, sipping tea while reading some outrageously large textbook. He was none the wiser as the boar completely decimated large fields of flowers and vinery as it came to wreak destruction on anything in its path. Weiss frowned as she came to the realization; she did not have very long to save her brother. 

Once again, she stood her ground and quickly proceeded to aim projectiles at the bowling ball of a Grimm. 

She missed the first shot. Panic rose within her. 

She missed the second shot. She wished Ruby was here to help guide her. 

She missed the third shot. Whitley finally heard the commotion and looked back, unable to scream as he was unable to comprehend his impending death. 

She nailed the fourth shot! It slammed into the boar’s back, instantly freezing it. Weiss could hear Ruby cheer for her distantly in her mind, but she shook it off. She made her way towards Whitley. “We need to go! Now!!!” Whitley just stared at the giant ice cube a mere foot away from him. “It won’t hold long, Whitley. Let’s go!” Weiss grabbed her little brother’s hand and tried to drag him along. 

But it was too late. She heard the shattering of the ice as the ice cold shards pierce the air around them. The Boarbatusk looked at them in confusion, but then regained its senses. Weiss was able to see it charging up, ready for another attack. “Stay behind me,” Wess pushed her brother behind her. 

She knew she would not be able to withstand a direct hit on her own. Ruby was always there to stun it before it could even try. 

But Ruby was not there right now. 

Weiss narrowed her eyes and glared at the boar. She had an idea, but she needed it to come closer. Then she could release the perfectly timed row of ice spikes to come from the ground and pierce it as it came closer, hopefully killing it. However, Weiss felt movement behind her and she quickly glanced back. Whitley was fixing on moving away, his stance ready to retreat. “Whitley! Sto-” 

Whitley suddenly jolted away, screaming as he ran for his life. Weiss’s eyes widdened, Whitley was always the most annoying little brother, but that was definitely not a time to NOT listen to her! She quickly glanced at the boar, whose eyes instantly followed the moving target. Then, she saw it beelined towards her idiotic brother. 

“WHITLEY!” Weiss attempted to shoot more projectiles, but it was futile. In slow motion, she saw the Boarbatusk slam into Whitley, perhaps killing him instantly. 

She had failed. 

The Boarbatusk stopped spinning and appeared to be dizzy from its own attack. Weiss paled and she tasted blood and vile at the back of her mouth as she prepared herself to see Whitley’s mangled body left in the Grimm’s wake. 

But there was nothing there, except for a few fallen rose petals. 

“Weiss! Attack!!!” A familiar high pitched voice cheered for her from a distance away. Ruby placed Whitley down on top of a shed nearby and grinned when she looked over at Weiss. 

Relief washed over the Schnee heiress and she felt something stir in her chest as her shoulders relaxed. However, the danger was not over yet. “Weiss, look out!” Ruby screeched as the boar suddenly turned and wind up to attack Weiss. 

Weiss steeled herself, but then called out in a soft, but commanding voice. “White Rose!” 

Ruby sprung to action. She surrounded herself in her red cloak as she sped towards the boar, getting close enough to shoot. As she slammed her scythe into the ground, she aimed. Before the boarbatusk could flatten out the Schnee princess, Ruby sniped it with her shocking bullet, stunning the grim. Weiss then took the opportunity to go in for the kill. Her delicate hand thrusted her rapier into the Grimm precisely five times, aimed for weak critical points. The Grimm exploded into ash, disappearing into the wind. 

Weiss finally allowed the sense of victory and relief crash into her. “We did it!” She sighed in victory, but when she turned to celebrate with Ruby, she saw Ruby collapsed onto the ground. “Ruby?!” Weiss rushed towards the smaller girl, her eyes wide with worry as she knelt on the ground to survey the damage. But, Ruby was never even close to the Grimm. How could she be hurt? What had happened?! 

“Ya...y...” A weak cheer came from the red girl as her light silver eyes fluttered open. 

“Just hold on, Ruby.” Weiss demanded, holding the girl’s head against her lap. Despite her attempts, Weiss was unable to see what was wrong. There were no external wounds, no blood, no signs of any sort of injury - she needed a medical expert. She looked over at Whitley, thinking of demanding her brother to get help, but he appeared to be having a hard time figuring out a way to get down from the shed that Ruby placed him on. 

“I’m... okay, Weiss... Just... tir...” Silver eyes fluttered closed. Only then did Weiss noticed the flickering green light of a power sign hidden underneath collar of Ruby’s shirt. 

~~~ 

“She’ll be fine, Weiss, relax dear.” Willow took a sip of her wine as she watched her youngest daughter pace back and forth. 

“Yes, I know that!” Weiss snapped, loathing the smell of alcohol that reeked from her mother. “But that doesn’t explain anything. Who is she? Why is she here? And was she apparently created by Piertro?” Weiss’s mind kept racing through the events that had just happened. Questions kept swirling around in her mind; questions she once asked not too long ago, but had forgotten due to her own gullible naivety. She did know one thing - the green light was Pietro’s signature on all of his created robots, but... what exactly did that mean? 

A warm embraced stopped Weiss from pacing, and despite the disgusting smell of alcohol that enveloped her, she found herself wrapping her own arms around the thin figure of her mother. A gentle hand caressed the top of Weiss’s head, brushing her hair down lovingly. “I can explain some of that to you, Weiss... Just please, sit down with me.” After a moment of hesitation, Weiss nodded obediently, following her mother to the couch. 

“Ruby Rose was a huntress.” Willow began. She still kept Weiss in an embrace as she closed her eyes to remember the details of her memories. “She worked with your grandfather, Nicholas Schnee, before he founded the Schnee dust company.” Weiss allowed the words to sink in and kept her surprised comments to herself as her mom continued. 

“I remember seeing her come by often when I was a kid... She would often bring us souvenirs from her travels around the world. She sometimes also brought her family along too - all nice people, her father, her sister and her sister’s significant other...” 

“Ruby was there when your grandfather discovered the dust deposit. But, while they were deep in the mines trying to get the dust out, they also disturbed a Grimm nest. Hundreds of Grimms attacked them. Your grandfather would not have been able to make it out alive if it was not for Ruby... She, unfortunately, was not as lucky.” Weiss’s breath hitched as she tried to imagine the mangle mess of Ruby’s body; she quickly shoved the nightmarish thought aside. 

“Father brought her dying body to Pietro, who was trying to figure out how to bring life into a robot’s body at the time. Piertro’s daughter was suffering from an illness, so he was desperate to perfect the ability. Father told Piertro to try it on Ruby first.”

Weiss nodded, so she was right, Pietro was the one who created Ruby. “However, due to the limitation of Pietro’s studies at the time... Ruby was not able to stay awake for very long, before having to recharge. So, your grandfather built a building just for her.” The image of the Schnee training room popped into Weiss’s head. Nicholas might have been a smart man, but he definitely lacked in the interior decorating department. How could he expected anyone to live in such a large empty space? 

Willow seemed to knew exactly what Weiss was thinking about and gave a low laugh. “Not the training room. It was a different building. As years passed, Ruby grew tired of being confined all day and demanded to be given something to do. Your grandfather was growing old and tired by then. He had to retire, and he could no longer fight well either. By then, he agreed to allow your father to take over the Schnee dust company... And he wanted Ruby to help train his future grandchildren to fight and take care of themselves.” 

“Thus the training facility.” Willow nodded as Weiss placed the pieces together. Still, some of it did not add up. “Why didn’t father tell us about her earlier? Why did we not do training with her?” 

“Your father and Ruby never got along. He probably wanted her to disappear for as long as possible.” Weiss felt a slight pain on her side as Willow gripped at her skin slightly. Willow quickly let go of her daughter, not meaning to hurt her, and instead reached out to grab her glass of wine. “They got into some sort of huge argument, and he banned all of us from going to see her ever again. I do not know why he sent Winter and you there.” 

“To kill the Red Knight is what he told me.” 

Willow’s knuckles turned white from clutching onto the wine glass, and she took large gulps from it. “That’s Ruby. The Red Knight is Ruby.” 

Weiss’s face went ghostly pale. 

~~~ 

“I’m okay, Weiss! See?” Ruby stretched out her arms and legs, and even did a hop in place. She grinned brightly at Weiss, trying to cheer the girl up. “So stop looking so sad!” 

“Mother told me everything, Ruby.” Blue eyes avoided looking at the silver eyes directly. Instead, Weiss opted to look at the ground instead, unable to face her fears. “About you... and Grandfather Nicholas... And Pietro...” Ruby quickly stopped bouncing and stared at Weiss. The girl figured that Willow had said something to her; she knew Weiss would have noticed Pietro’s signature power button. But after spending weeks with the Schnee princess, she knew it wasn’t Ruby’s artificial body that was scaring her. Instead, it would have been the thought of completing the challenge that the bastard- sorry,  _ Jacques _ \- had assigned to his daughter; a challenge that frightened Ruby herself in the beginning. 

But, a soft smile crossed Ruby’s face and she walked back into the training facility. She looked up at the tall building and the white-grey walls that she’s gotten use to seeing everyday for the past couple of years. Ruby closed her eyes as she recalled her banter with Nicholas when he first introduced her to her new home. 

_ “You could have made the place more exciting! Built extra trap rooms, or training rooms!” Ruby pouted, disliking the pristine nature of the rooms. It was such a Nicholas building - so boring and dull.  _

_ “You don’t need all that excessive rooms.” Nicholas rolled his eyes. “There are extra rooms to keep the Grimm locked securely, so don’t forget to lock them, pea-brain.”  _

_ “Hey!!! That’s mean!” Ruby huffed, glancing down the long corridors. It was dark and creepy. She did not like it.  _

_ “And there’s a weapon room for you to work on building your own weapon.” Suddenly, this peaked the girl’s interest.  _

_ “What?! Really? Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!” Ruby hugged Nicholas’s arm tightly. She giggled happily at the thought of being able to work on Crescent Rose all day. She could make more improvements! Instead of just a gun, maybe she could make it into a rocket launcher as well! No? Too much? Well, she could at least try.  _

_ “It’s the least I can do, since you’re... here...” Ruby looked up at her old friend, seeing the face of regret deepen his aging face even further. The word ‘trapped’ unspoken, but understood by both of them, kept the air between them still. “The power supplies will only charge this building for you. You can’t step out of it without shutting down after only a few minutes.” Ruby closed her eyes once to take in the news, but she did not allow herself to be bogged down by the facts.  _

_ “More time for me to work on my weapons! Yay me!” She declared instead, running back inside. Her giggles echoed through the entire castle, causing Nicholas to smile fondly at his dearest friend.  _

It has been years since then. She had heard news about his passing, which devestated her at the time... She had heard news about her own father passing, unable to actually attend the funeral despite her attempts. She hasn’t heard anything from Yang or Blake for years; Ruby had already assumed the worst and had mourned for them alone. 

Alone. 

Always alone. 

Ruby had been trapped within these walls, endlessly counting the days until she can find the end. She knew Nicholas meant for the best, but sometimes she feels as though this was some sort of punishment. She knew she could walk out and end it all, but the excuse of fulfilling an old promise to Nicholas and fear of death always kept her back. 

However, Ruby now felt some sort of peace in her heart... she was ready. 

“I see him in you sometimes.” Ruby said wistfully, turning to look at Nicholas’s granddaughter. They shared the same white silky hair and ice blue eyes filled with pride. They even shared the same eye roll whenever Ruby did something that they deemed “silly”. She missed him. She missed everyone. 

Weiss did not know how to respond to the comment at first. She never knew her grandfather, but by the way that Ruby is looking at her in fondness right now, it must have been a compliment. Still, it irritated her to be compared to anyone else. “I’m my own person.” Weiss stubbornly muttered, causing Ruby to laugh in delight. 

“You certainly are! You yell at me a lot more than he ever did!” 

“Only because you’re the most childish and idiotic person I ever had to dealt with, you dolt.” 

Ruby smiled, “Aww, you love me! Thanks!” Weiss rolled her eyes. 

“And... Since you love me so much...” Ruby grinned from ear to ear as she took out her precious Crescent Rose, happy to feel its balanced weight against her hands one last time. “I’ll finally listen to your demands. I’ll let you fight the Red Knight.” 

“No.” 

Ruby faltered, was there no pleasing this princess? “What do you  _ mean  _ no? You’ve been yelling at me to do this all week!” 

“Ruby, I’m not going to fight you.” Weiss calmly responded. “Do you really think I would actually try to hurt you? You saved my family - both my grandfather and my brother!” 

“What about Beacon academy?! What about leaving this place and actually experiencing the world?!” 

“I’ll find a different way.” Weiss decided. “One that doesn’t involve hurting you.” 

“Oh come on!” Ruby gritted her teeth in annoyance. “Don’t give up your dreams for me! Just fight me already!” 

“No! Ruby, I said no!” 

“Ice Princess!” 

“That’s unbelievably immature of you.” 

“Stuck up heiress!” 

“Ruby...” 

“Bossy-know-it-all!” 

“Okay, that’s it!” Weiss grabbed her rapier and lunged towards Ruby. Ruby grinned, finding success at taunting the younger Schnee and countered with her scythe. Their weapons clashed loudly, causing both of them to jump back. 

Weiss wasn’t given the time to assess her actions and their implications before Ruby dove at her again. As they spent several hours together for the past few weeks, Weiss was able to read Ruby’s movements effectively. Weiss thrusted forward, stopping Ruby’s scythe in mid-swing, once again causing both of them to jump back. Weiss then sped behind Ruby, hoping to catch her from behind, but Ruby spun her scythe to block. 

They went back and forth for a while, blocking and attacking, until Ruby tried to break the cycle and attacked “out of turn” as Weiss once called it. Weiss then moved out of the way, using her glyphs to help her guide throughout the castle effortlessly. While Weiss was dancing through the air, Ruby shot out a few sniper shots at her, attempting to get Weiss back down. 

Weiss dodged each of them, countering with her own icy projectiles, which Ruby slashed away. “You can do better than that, can’t you, Weiss?!” Ruby taunted, swinging her scythe around. Taking the taunt, Weiss dove down at Ruby. Ruby tsked once, signaling to Weiss that she had made a mistake, and Ruby smacked her hard with the handle of her scythe, causing Weiss to fall back, but Weiss quickly regained her composure, as she dug her heels into the ground to prevent herself from falling on her back. 

A few clicks on Weiss’s rapier, and Ruby knew that she was about to be blasted by fire slashes. She dodged quickly out of the way, reacting a second too late as she felt her body creak. The end of her cape caught on fire; Ruby panicked and instantly tried to put out the fire. This is what she got for skipping out on greasing her joints. 

Weiss wasted no time diving in for another attack as Ruby tried to stop, drop, and roll the fire away. But before Weiss can stab her with a rapier covered in shock dust, Ruby grabbed her scythe and slammed it towards Weiss’s abdomen, shooting a shot at point blank. Weiss screamed as she slammed back into the wall, her aura shimmering around her. 

Ruby felt a second of remorse, but quickly stopped herself. It wouldn’t be fair to Weiss if she did not go all out. This was a battle of life and death, and the red girl intended to keep it that way. 

As Weiss tried to recover, using her rapier to get back on her feet, she saw some rose petals fluttering around and knew to dodge. She rolled over, but the edge of the scythe caught her side of her face, creating a cut down her left eye. Weiss screamed once again, seeing red from her left eye as blood poured out of it. She bit her lip, trying to keep her vision on Ruby and ignored the pain. Her aura was out, she was getting hurt. Continuing would have been a bad idea. 

“Weiss? Come on, I believe in you.” Ruby quietly said under her breath. The words dove deep into Weiss’s heart. She had to prove herself to Ruby; she had to focus on that and that alone. Weiss took a deep breath and looked at Ruby with fierce certainty. 

Ruby knew that second that Weiss was going to win. 

Weiss covered her rapier in red dust as Ruby flew towards her. As the scythe came down on Weiss’s head, she countered, but this time the red dust on her rapier caused a large explosion to erupt in between them. Ruby jumped back, but Weiss continued forward. 

Click. Blue dust. Ice erupted from underneath Ruby, who could only try to use her scythe to jump out of the way. 

Click. Yellow dust. Electricity traveled down Ruby’s scythe and into her arms, causing her to yelp in shock. She dropped the scythe for a brief second, the electricity messing with the circuits in her arm. But that was the only opening Weiss needed. 

Weiss created glyphs that surrounded Ruby, wrapping around her arms and legs and lifted her up in the sky. She pulled her rapier back, ready to thrust into Ruby’s heart. 

But Weiss faltered as Ruby’s silver eyes just watched her, Ruby was no longer struggling against her binds. “What are you doing, Weiss?!” Weiss blinked, her hesitation caused her to suddenly feel the exhaustion in her body. What was she doing? This was Ruby. This was her dear friend. Her first friend. “WEISS. JUST DO IT.” Ruby screamed, and Weiss saw the pleading desire in Ruby’s eyes. The extent to Ruby’s isolation and despair suddenly dawned Weiss - how long has Ruby been trapped alone in the building? “Weiss, plea-” 

Weiss felt a disgusting crunch as her rapier went through Ruby’s chest. The vibration traveled up Weiss’s arms; she stopped breathing for a second. She instantly dropped her glyphs and Ruby fell to the ground with a resounding thud. Horrified, fell onto her knees besides her, regret and dread consumed Weiss’s every fiber of her being. “Ruby! Ruby! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!!!” 

The flickering green light on Ruby’s neck taunted Weiss once more as Ruby smiled. The little red girl reached out to touch Weiss’s cheek, “Don’t be, Weiss... You did well.” Weiss grabbed a hold of the cold hand, squeezing tightly. Words of approval... Words of appraisal. Words she once long to hear from just about anyone. 

Yet, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling down her face. “Thank you... Weiss...” Ruby whispered, her bright, glowing silver eyes fluttered closed once more, the smile never leaving her gentle face. 

Weiss just screamed. 

~~~ 

The next few weeks followed without any significant events, it was as if nothing changed. Weiss felt empty inside, moreso than she ever had before. In that daze, she apparently turned in the forms to Beacon academy with the papers that Jacques signed when they carried Ruby’s lifeless body out of the building. The sense of loneliness constantly haunted the princess, weighing deep on her body and mind, to the point that everything felt like it was suffocating her. She was lonely before, but... It was worse now that she knew what it was like to have a friend... And what it was like to lose one. 

She skipped meals. She skipped training. Weiss couldn’t be bothered anymore, what did it matter? She was the awful person that murdered her only friend in cruel blood, just for what? So she could go to school? 

What kind of a monster was she? 

Winter did not hear any response when she knocked on Weiss’s door, but she pushed open the door anyways. As per usual, Weiss just stayed curled up in bed, unmoving. It was nearly 4 PM, and she hadn’t heard a peep from Weiss all day. Or all week for that matter. “Weiss, get out of bed.” The older Schnee demanded, walking over to the girl. 

Weiss didn’t move. 

“Weiss.” 

“Go away, Winter.” Weiss muttered, curling tighter into a ball. 

Winter sighed and sat at the edge of the bed. Weiss felt the disturbance, but still refused to move. She stiffened up when she felt Winter gently place a hand on her back through the blankets. “You need to get up. You can’t just waste away in here. Is that what... Ruby would have wanted?” 

Pale hands clenched the sheets tightly, her knuckles turning white. “Who knows. She’s dead.” 

Winter stood up, unable to take the pity state of her younger sister any longer. Her hand felt awkward and strange trying to comfort her anyways. “Do you know why we have a training facility filled with Grimm, Weiss? Do you know what we gain when we are able to defeat something?” 

Weiss did not respond. She was not in the mood to try to impress her older sister with her vast knowledge of nothing. 

“Did you forget what we can do with our glyphs? It’s not simply to help us move around. Or have you already forgotten everything that I taught you?” 

Weiss scowled; she did not want to think. How could she even try to think about her glyphs? Ruby used to love questioning her about them.  _ “What else can you do with them, Weiss? Teleport? Stop time? Summon-”  _

Summon? 

An idea started to creep into Weiss’s head, only then did she look out from underneath her blankets and sat up. The gears turned slowly in Weiss’s mind as she went through her lessons with Winter in the past. 

“I know you’ve always been pretty bad at it, Weiss, but this is a good time to learn summoning, don’t you think?” 

How could she had been so stupid? Weiss thought maybe hanging around Ruby a little too long may had caused her to lose some brain cells. But no matter, Weiss jumped out of bed. “I’m going to take a shower.” She said quickly, realizing how greasy she was due to staying in bed for long days. Winter smiled softly and nodded as Weiss rushed out. 

~~~ 

Concentrate.  _ Concentrate _ . This was the mantra that Weiss practically breathed 24/7 for the past week, as she tried to create a successful summoning glyph. Sweat dripped off of her forehead as she tried to zero her focus into this one activity. 

Hours and hours of lack of success. Days of absolute failure. But Weiss did not falter once. In the back of her head, she could hear Ruby’s insanely loud and annoying cheers of encouragement. Only the desire to hush the incessant yelling kept Weiss going. 

Then, finally, as Weiss created the glyph, it turned into a familiar shade of red. A small circle then appear, and a red wisp of a small version of Ruby appeared. The Ruby summon looked mystified for a moment, but then looked up at Weiss. 

Weiss eyes filled with tears, as her butterflies of joy danced within her heart. She reached down to embrace the tiny summon. A small success, but a success nevertheless. 

The small red knight smiled and snuggled against the cheek of her princess. 


End file.
